STRANGERS IN THE SAME COUNTRY: THE COMPLEXITY OF SISTERLY SOLIDARITY IN CATHERINE FILLOUX’S THE BEAUTY INSIDE

Year 2017, Issue: 37, 153 - 164, 22.06.2017

Eda Dedebaş Dündar

https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.328401

Abstract

Through the depiction of a sisterly solidarity and the
priority of our responsibility for the other, French-American playwright
Catherine Filloux’s play The Beauty
Inside makes its audience bear witness not only to the tragedy of honor
killings in Turkey but also to an amity that flourishes between a Westernized
lawyer Devrim and a rape survivor Yalova introducing a form of familial bond
that stems from our shared ethical space. With the help of its unique
characters and stress on compassion, The
Beauty Inside exemplifies an outstanding play that enhances the publicity
of the theatre genre itself. This paper argues that through its rendering of
two noteworthy characters from two conflicting sub-cultures of Turkey and their
attempts to acknowledge their responsibility for the other, the play portrays a
complex sisterhood that justifies the uplifting impact of face-to-face
interaction and proposes a novel approach to humanitarianism in human rights
theatre. Moreover, it accentuates travel, both as a physical expedition and a
mental exploration, in its attempt to encounter the other and “the
non-intentionality of consciousness” – to quote from Emmanuel Levinas. Divided
in two major sections, this paper first discusses the theoretical perspectives
surrounding travel theory and the concept of witnessing vulnerability and
atrocities by referring to human rights theorists as well as Levinas’s concept
of “face-to-face interaction”  and then
includes a close reading of The Beauty
Inside as a distinguished play that aptly utilizes the theatre genre to
serve a dual function: to publicize violations and to deliver an eye-opening
alternative to our fear of the other by curtailing the proximity to the
vulnerable.

Keywords

Human rights theatre, contemporary women playwrights, honor killings, bearing witness

AYNI ÜLKEDE YABANCI OLMAK: CATHERINE FILLOUX’NUN İÇTEKİ GÜZELLİK OYUNUNDA KIZ KARDEŞLİĞİN KARMAŞASI

Abstract

Fransız Amerikalı oyun yazarı Catherine Filloux’nun
“İçteki Güzellik” adlı oyunu, sahnelediği kız kardeşlik teması ve vurguladığı
ötekine olan sorumluluğumuz kavramlarıyla iki önemli amaç ortaya koymaktadır:
Seyircisini Türkiye’deki namus cinayetleri hakkında bilgilendirmek ve onlara
Batılı bir avukat olan Devrim’le tecavüz mağduru Yalova arasında filizlenen
arkadaşlığı göstererek ortak bir etik alanının olduğunun altını çizmek. Özgün
karakterleri ve merhamet kavramına verdiği önemle, “İçteki Güzellik” tiyatronun
halkla iç içe bir sanat olduğunu da gösteren seçkin bir oyundur. Bu makalede
tartışılan nokta şudur: Türkiye’nin iki farklı alt-kültüründen gelen iki
karakter ve onların ötekini anlama çabaları sonucu, bu oyun “yüz yüze
etkileşimi” haklı gösteren ve insan hakları tiyatrosunda hümanitarizm kavramına
yeni bir alternatif sunan kardeşce bir dayanışma ortaya koyar. Dahası, hem
fiziksel hem de mental bir arayış olan seyahat kavramına ve onun ötekiyle
karşılaşma arzusuna, ya da Emmanuel Levinas’in deyimiyle “bilincin
niyetsizliğine”, dikkat çeker. İki bölümden oluşan bu makalenin ilk bölümünde
seyahat teorisi çerçevesinde ve insan hakları ihlallerine şahit olma kavramı
kapsamında insan hakları teorisyenlerinden ve Levinas’in “yüz yüze etkileşim”
kavramından faydalanılmaktadır. İkinci bölümde ise, “İçteki Güzellik” oyununun
detaylı bir okuması, bu oyundaki iki önemli kavramın (1-ihlalleri duyurma ve
2-ötekiyle olan mesafeyi kısaltarak yeni bir alternatif sunma) altı çizilerek
yapılmaktadır.

Keywords

İnsan hakları tiyatrosu, çağdaş kadın oyun yazarları, namus cinayetleri, şahit olma

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